Metroid Fusion Review

Originality: I was talking to a friend of mine about this game and he said something that totally describes this game. It really does feel like a horror game. In my opinion, it combines the best elements of metroid (upgrade profession, small but important dialogue, higher level thinking skills way beyond Mario or 2-d Zelda) with the “Alien” movie series. This game, from start to finish, freaked me out at points and kept me on my toes at all time. I’ve never been so paranoid about an enemy showing up at any random point to kill me as I have with the SA-X (zombies are nothing compared to that thing…). What a gloriously amazing collaboration of ideas (both game play and story).

20/20

Graphics: While no Minish cap or Advanced Wars, this game still performs well in graphics. I’ll admit, all the little weird shapes in the game prevent me from being able to tell if they are done well (because they are alien by design so I don’t know if they are good or bad) but I enjoyed the way the game looked.

8/10

Art Style: The art style was very fitting for this game (alien, confused, even distorted somewhat in message). I loved it. This so fits this universe!

15/15

Story: This is yet another 2-d Nintendo game that proves that Mario 2-d (or 3d for that matter) games have no business not having a better story than what they do. This games story was incredibly specific, had me on the edge of my seat for most of the game, and had quite a few twists in it (more than almost any game I’ve ever played actually). Absolutely fantastic “Alien”-like story that fits this game well and blows most games out of the water in the GBA era. My only complaint is the lack of a more in-depth ending (total cliffhanger… which has yet to be continued considering Fusion is the latest game according to the timeline).

28/30

Game Interface: For the gba, it was fine. For the 3ds they could have given us the decency of putting the map on the bottom screen so you didn’t have to constantly pause while moving through this massive ship (especially during the timed portions). I’m deducting here for Nintendo being lazy in the 3ds era!

3/5

Controls easy and fluid or difficult and rigid? The controls are hard. It’s fast past combat in which you have to be aware of where your enemies are, where they will move to, moving yourself, charging weapons, and pointing them in any of 6 directions. It’s a hard game and the controls are difficult to master, but that’s kind of the point for this game so no deduction. This was meant for the hardcore; they weren’t lazy.

5/5

Is it fun? At times, no. It’s stressful. It’s frustratingly stressful. I was stuck on one boss in particular (the plant boss) and kept getting sucked into the plants and couldn’t figure out how to escape. Even my friend that played this game a ton on the gba and said it was the only game he ever speed clear couldn’t figure out what the problem was. Then I realized you had to hold A (lol). I guess the original game didn’t require that but the 3ds one did? Not sure. It really is a great game that you feel accomplished beating, but it’s one of those games that you play for the challenge and not for the simple amusement.

12/15

Total: 91/100

Up to Date Game Grade Rankings

1. Batman Arkham City Armored Edition - 100
2. Zelda Skyward Sword-98
3. Zelda Minish Cap – 92

T4. Zelda Oracle of Ages – 91

T4. Metroid Fusion - 91

T6. Zelda Twilight Princess – 90

T6. Luigi’s Mansion Dark Moon - 90

T8.Guildwars 2 – 89

T8.Mario and Luigi: Dream Team - 89

T10. Pokémon X - 88

T10. Kid Icarus Uprising – 88

T10. Darksiders 2 - 88

T10. Fire Emblem Awakening - 88

14. Mario and Luigi: Bowsers Inside Story – 86

15. Animal Crossing New Leaf - 84

T16. Paper Mario Sticker Star – 83

T16. Zelda: A Link Between Worlds-83

18. Trine - 80

1. Zelda: A Link to the Past – 78

T20. Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D – 74

T20. Rome: Total War-74

22. Super Mario 3d land – 72

1. Red Alert 3 - 70
2. Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze* - 68
3. New Super Mario Bros. U - 66
4. New Super Mario Bros.Wii – 57 *
5. Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition – 53*
6. Kirby Squeak Squad - 43

Most of my reviews I did before I started posting them on this website. I figured I would only post new reviews as I do them here. I'll upload my Ocarina of Time 3d review here. Enjoy (this was from some time ago when my writing was more for personal notes to myself):

Ocarina of Time Review

Originality: One of the first and best 3d (as opposed to a 2d sideway game) games for the N64 is, interestingly enough, one of the first and best 3d (pop out style) games for the 3DS. The visual alone make this game unique in Zelda because there was not, previously, a Zelda game that was of either kind of 3d (pop out or the other kind). Another reason this game is very unique in Zelda is that it establishes a split in the timeline of Zelda (something no other Zelda game can boast). Most of the Zelda games take place after OoT and each in one of the three alternative timelines that are established after OoT (a rather brilliant move on Nintendo’s part in my opinion). Despite this, there are still some aspects of this game that don’t make it as unique as some of the spinoff series or a game like Minish Cap; it feels like a Zelda game in how the story progresses (until maybe the end of it). Also, I couldn’t help but feel the similarities between the final boss battle of this game and the one in Mario 64…

16/20

Graphics: The graphics of the original were impressive, but the ps1-2 had better graphic capabilities than the n64 and Gamecube ever had. Luckily for this particular game, this is the remastered 3d rerelease of the game and there aren’t many games that are as visually beautiful on the 3ds. The vita has better graphics, but the vita wasn’t out (I don’t believe) when this game was released on the 3ds so there ya go! The only game I’ve played on the 3ds that I feel had better graphics was Kid Icarus but I’m not even sure that was out when I beat OoT3d.

9/10

Art Style: Not the most unique of art styles, but I did appreciate how the scenery looked different between past/future.

8/15

Story: A really good story (the twist of Zelda being Sheik is one of the best in video game history in my opinion). It’s not quite as good of a story as it’s successors but still very well done.

 25/30

Game Interface: The 3ds’s second screen makes the game screen less crowded and makes it easier to see things.

5/5

Controls easy and fluid or difficult and rigid? Twilight Princess Introduced motion control and Skyward Sword perfected it on the Wii. Nintendo should have made the stylus the sword imo.

 2/5

Is it fun? Exploration can be very slow at times (mostly due to Hyrule field) and issues with starting over in dungeons and what not make the game frustrating at times, but it’s still pretty darn fun.

9/15

Total = 74/100

So...let me guess. The game is good because it has a nice story. Hahaha.
Fuck variables.
Glad you liked it. Metroid series is top shit.

It's not my problem if people have become so addicted to only seeing the value in games with scores that are inflated. Just because a game gets a score in the 70's doesn't mean it's a bad game. Gamers have gotten obsessed with playing games only in the 80's or 90's because all those websites intentionally make games have that high of scores. If someone from ign viewed games the same way I do, it would still end up being in the 90's instead of the 70's just because it's better clickbait. Gamers either want to see games bomb in score or set records, they don't care about the neutral numbers. Well guess what? My job doesn't depend on how many clicks I get lol I do this for fun so I'm more realistic about my scores.

The story is quite good lol

Have you played Zero Mission yet?

Well a game can still be bad yet be fun. Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary was a horribly simple game, with a bad review score, yet was somehow insanely addicting and fun.

That being said, generally games that are in the low 60's or lower would be considered bad to me. 

Nope, but I'm playing the first one and Super atm. I think I read zergo mission is an updated version of the first game?

Yeah, it's significantly superior.

I put into my review my reasons for the OoT score. It really doesn't change itself enough from the past ones (other than graphically) to justify a truly unique game classification.